Fear OFF Life is Janani Srikanth’s much-awaited fourth book,
and it has the same classic minimalistic style and approach as her previous
non-fiction books. Having already read her earlier non-fiction (and fiction) works,
returning to this book felt so familiar and comfortable. The author’s unique
writing style sets this book apart from its peers but also makes the readers
feel like they are having a personal one-to-one conversation with the talented
psychologist herself.
The concept sounded exciting even before I picked the book
up – what if the ‘fears’ you have are not just hyped social-media trends but
actual, valid obstacles to your everyday life? How will you overcome them? What
steps do you need to take towards a better life by handling the fears that
threaten to pull you back?
I understood the style enough to realise this was not going
to be just another book with platitudes about owning oneself and overcoming
fears. Janani Srikanth’s works are never placebos, and her latest stood
testament to this fact.
The premise, like those of her previous books, was enough to
hook my curiosity.
The book reigned over my mind for the entire three-hour
sitting in which I ploughed through it, cover to cover, eagerly turning the
pages and watching the wonder manifest in front of my eyes! Every section of
every chapter had something of incredible value to take away, and the words
fell together in such choreographed coherence that I was more than impressed.
The book is the perfect answer to the growing disquiet of certain social media trends that inadvertently suck the unwary people in, even if you are really careful about what you consume through your daily doomscrolling.
If some of the social media hashtag terms like #FOMO, #FOBA
etc sound like Greek to you, this book might just be what you need to
understand these terms and check if your fears have an actual name so you can
set out to overcome them.
If the abbreviations sound painfully familiar – and you have
spent years trying to dismiss them as social media fad terms, this book is for
you too, so you can realise how valid those fears really are, and how you can
change your outlook on them.
Fear OFF Life is a book for people of all ages, irrespective of what stage in life they are going through. It deals with these ‘fears’ with a sensible and sensitive touch, in true deference to the author’s style. Janani Srikanth does not simply condemn the fears and ask you to push them away. She gently guides you on the path of accepting them and finding ways to change your perspective about them.
She deals with ten prominent fears in this book, including
the Fear of Communication and the Fear of Commitment, and these chapters could
become gospels for those who are looking to communicate better and form
healthier relationships in their lives.
The chapters on the Fear of Aging and the Fear of Change are
incredibly heartening (heartwarming) takes on what it feels like to wonder if
you are getting older and the world around you is moving faster than you want
it to, and how you can adapt yourself better.
Working professionals will also find the answers to the
fears that plague them, amidst these pages. After all, how many former
corporate employees with valuable insights on the office culture are going to
end up as psychologists and write books that help others navigate that world
with ease?!
Janani Srikanth’s approach to life (as a psychologist and
philosopher) has left a lasting impression on me as a reader, and this book
just reiterates the belief that the right perspective might be all you need to
change your life completely.
While she gently guided her readers to ask themselves the
right kind of difficult questions and answer them honestly so they could get
clarity in life (via her previous book, ‘Question the Answers’), she chooses ‘Fear
OFF Life’ to entrust her readers with a little secret: your fears are not your
hurdles, they might become your stepping stones in your journey to success.
Fear OFF Life does not mince words. It helps readers
confront the feelings they may not have acknowledged so far, and try to use
them for betterment in life. It patiently urges the readers to overcome the
delusion their denial brings and helps them on the path to a fear-free life,
where (understanding and facing) the fear becomes the driving force instead of
the hurdle that your fears could otherwise be.
The book itself is a thing of beauty and brevity. It has so
much content packed corresponding to its size that every carefully chiselled
line becomes valuable and poster-worthy.
The words are simple and straightforward, the writing lucid
and comfortable to read, and the book’s flow so smooth that you may not even
realise you are gobbling up the pages as you swipe to the next, and the next
and then one more… until you reach the end and sit back, wondering if it was
really a work of non-fiction or a mirror to your mind!
If you have journeyed through the most important
psychological aspects you need to know to have a balanced life (via ‘A Balance Called Life’) and have identified the questions you need to ask yourself and
the answers you need to find (via ‘Question the Answers’), then Fear OFF Life
will be the next book you must pick up on your transformative journey.
This book needs to be a part of your reading for two important reasons:
It will help you validate your fears and help you find ways to overcome them.
It will help you understand the fears better and use them to aid you instead of letting them obstruct you.
Allow Janani to gently hold your hands and guide you through
the travails of life with her deep insights presented in a succinct format.
Personal transformation guides cannot get more interesting than this!
Special Mentions:
1. The short story snippets in every chapter that superimposed a ‘fear’ onto a realistic fictional example. They made the concept clearer and introduced the idea that these fears may be plaguing anyone. These well-written snippets will help you put yourself in the place of the ‘people’ and see your own life from a third-person point-of-view.
(These snippets are my favourite, much like the ‘Dear Maya’ section of Janani Srikanth’s fictional novel, Taste of Fate)
2. The COVER! I shall judge this book by the cover, and rightly so. Starting with the acronyms of the fears placed in repetitive strings of text subtly in the background, to the bold font that encourages the readers to throw fear OFF their lives, and that subtle switch that shifts from ‘OF’ to ‘OFF’ – everything about this cover worked for me.
(The note by the cover designer only added to my impression
of the cover. Srikanth Srinivasan sets the benchmark for uniquely designed
covers and raises the bar every time. His works of art are the perfect
additions to Janani Srikanth’s brilliant words.)
Overall, Fear OFF Life is your fastest way to understand and confront some fears that you may have. It will also help you find out the easiest ways to beat down your fears or make them work FOR you instead of AGAINST you.
I really hope there is a volume 2 of this book coming soon!
Fear OFF Life is available on Amazon! Click here to buy your copy now!
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